Zeno's Paradox
by Alexis.Austin83
Summary: Can Don and his team stop a killer before there is a fourth victim?


Once again, I don't own any of the characters. If you insist on suing the only things you'll get are a three year old PC and a Ford Escort.

**ZENO'S PARADOX**

**Chapter One**

Angela Cassadine tried to appear as if she were paying full attention to her uncle as he was explaining the latest numbers from the and of Q3 and the impact they had on Q4. He had been going over charts and graphs with her for the last two hours and had lost her interest after five minutes. She had thought that she was doing a fair job of faking her interest until he cleared his throat.

"Angela, you will wish that you had paid attention during these lessons after I am dead and buried. I'm starting to believe that women have no head for business." George pulled his glasses off and looked at her.

She took a breath and opened her mouth to apologize but stopped before any words came forth. Uncle George was no where near death's door. He was barely forty years old, fit with not even one gray hair on his head. This was a man in his prime. She was barely out of college. Why couldn't he just run the business without her? Angela had no desire to spend her life in the boardroom talking about profit and loss statements and completing force field analysis on issues with employees.

"Uncle George, have you ever thought about having a child of you own? You know, someone that you could groom from birth to take over the family business. Someone that actually cares about the CTO numbers?" Her tone held no malice, only curiosity. "Why waste your time with me?"

"Because you are family. I promised my brother I would take care of you and make you successful in your career. I don't understand why you are still so resistant to fulfilling your duty to your family. You are highly intelligent, creative and beautiful. These are all things that will help you to succeed in life and they will help you to take this company to the next level." George explained to her once again. "You need focus in your life. This will be your focus."

"Uncle, I want to travel, to experience something more than business meetings and hostile takeovers." She tried to make her point.

"You have an obligation to fulfill. Please try to stay focused." He picked the report up once more. "Now, as I was saying," George continued on as if they had not strayed from business.

Angela sat up straight and tried to do a better job of pretending to be present for her uncle. They both knew that she was failing miserably.

XXXXXX

Don surveyed the scene before him with intensity. The body had been dumped in plain sight, was in fact lying in the middle of the running trail that cut through the park. The victim was a dark haired young man, late twenties, early thirties, and as of yet unidentified. His eyes were open and his face seemed frozen in an expression of pain. Megan knelt down beside the body and ran a hand over the torso, pointing out the deep lacerations to Don.

"See here? There are older cuts that had begun to heal beneath the newer ones. He was held longer than the others before his death. This one struggled more than the others. His wrists are mangled." Megan informed her partner.

"Yeah. Looks like he put up a hell of a struggle. This is the third death in two months. Look at this guy, he was nothing short of tortured to death." Don frowned.

"Each killing had become more violent. The first time, it was a crime of passion, but the last two, they were planned down to the last detail. I hate to think about what the killer may be escalating toward." Megan stood up. "This killer is methodical, very calculated. Don, I think this killer is a woman."

He looked at the body once more and then again at Megan before nodding. "So, let's find her before she kills again."

XXXXXX

As Larry approached Charlie's office, he could already hear the sounds of chalk scratching against chalkboard. The physicist was not surprised to find the young professor lost in his numbers once again. Larry stood back and watched as Charlie's writing became slower and then stopped altogether before he picked up the eraser and removed everything from the board.

"Charles." Larry tried to get his friend's attention. "Charles!" this time a little louder.

"Yes, Larry. How can I help you?" Charlie glanced at Larry before turning back to begin writing once again.

"How about you take a break for a moment."

"I can't do that right now. I am trying to find an equation that will help Don find a serial killer."

"Does this have to do with the body that was recovered in the park this morning?"

Charlie stopped and ran a hand through his hair. "This is the third murder. Three young men have lost their lives. Three brilliant scholars. None of them older than thirty. They were all tortured to death for apparently nothing more than the sick pleasure of the killer. I just don't understand how one human being could do this to another." He sounded a little lost.

"The human mind can go to a lot of deep, dark places Charles. The person that is committing the murders, well, this person is nothing short of sick. The thing is that inside this killer's mind, the acts they are committing – they think they have sound reasoning for this. Now, who's to guess at to what that reasoning is."

"The thing is, Larry. I don't have enough data to help Don solve this. Not without someone else dying."

"I think it's time that you took a break Charles. You've obviously hit the proverbial brick wall this evening. Let's go." Larry took Charlie by the arm.

"Where are we going?"

"We are going to a lecture on Astrophysics given by our friend Amita. Remember, we promised to support her tonight. I do hope that we aren't too late."

With one last glance at the chalkboard, Charlie allowed his friend to drag him from the room. He had promised to be there, however, he would find his mind drifting throughout Amita's lecture. Larry was not surprised when the math genius slipped out half way through the evening.

**Chapter Two**

"Angel, I didn't expect to see you tonight." The bartender smiled at the brunette beauty. "If you're looking for Sam, he's not here."

"Thanks, but I'm not looking for Sam tonight. I think I'm in the mood for someone new." She positively screamed dominant. The leather bar was one of the places that she chose her submissive partners from. "Do we have any fresh faces tonight?"

"Not yet, but the night's still young. Your private room is ready in the back. If you want, I'll send any new faces back to you." Rick offered.

"No thanks. I think I'll sit here for a while and be amused." Angel continued to peruse the dance floor for a while before moving to the stairs. Perhaps if she watched from a perch at one of the tables upstairs, someone would catch her eye. She had come with the intention of leaving with someone and Angel hated to be disappointed.

It was almost an hour later when she saw him walk into the bar. Patience was one of her virtues and she was pleased that it had paid off for her this evening. He was exquisite. Curly hair and brown eyes. Her favorite.

XXXXXX

"Angela, you missed this morning's board meeting." Uncle George was at it again.

"I'm sorry Uncle. I haven't been feeling very well and I overslept this morning. I promise that it will not happen again." She did her best to placate him.

"Do you want this company to fall apart? I need you to be fully committed to your role here."

"Uncle, please. I am committed. Please tell me what I missed this morning so that I can follow during this afternoon's meeting." Angela requested.

"I would love to believe that you are fully focused on business right now. However, I know better." George took a deep breath. "Since you aren't feeling well, I will handle the meeting with the lawyers this afternoon. Take the rest of today and rest. Tomorrow we have an extensive agenda to cover. Please be here early and fully rested."

Angela wanted to argue with the man, but she knew that she would never win. George had been treating her this way since her father had died ten years ago. Some things would never change. She looked at him and saw the disappointment in his eyes. Without saying another word, she turned and left the office.

XXXXXX

Angel stood at the entrance of the basement and looked at the man inside of the cell. He was pacing like a caged animal. When he finally noticed her, he began to beg to be released from the cage. She listened without compassion. She knew that he would beg quite a bit in the next few days. Angel wanted this one to last longer than the others had. She would go slower and take better care of this new pet.

XXXXXX

"I'm sorry Don."

Special Agent Don Eppes looked up at the person that had interrupted his train of thought. "Sorry for what? Did you just get here?"

"No. I came up a few minutes ago. Megan and I were discussing the case. I'm sorry that I have nothing for you yet. The data – there's not enough."

"Hey Charlie, I knew it was a long shot when I came to you with this. Don't put so much pressure on yourself. We will find the killer, even if we have to do it through more conventional methods of investigation."

"Megan says you have a couple of leads."

"Yeah. It turns out that all of the victims, they were into kinky sex. All of them like to play submissive to women. David and Colby are out doing interviews at some of the clubs around town that cater to kinks like that."

"So, you think this person can be found through these clubs?"

"Maybe. It's a shot anyway." Don took a moment to really examine his brother. Charlie looked worn out and Don suspected that there had been little sleep in his brother's schedule for the past couple of days. "Listen, how soon do you have to be back to campus?"

"Not until three. Why?"

"Let's grab some lunch. I'm buying."

Charlie smiled. "How can I refuse an offer that generous. Lead the way."

XXXXXX

"Angela, I called your office. The secretary told me that you'd gone home sick."

She looked up at the familiar face that had entered her home office. "Nicholas. I've missed you. When did you get back?"

"Early this morning. I was hoping to spend some time with you today. Are you okay?"

"Uncle George has decided that I'm not focused on the business. He insisted that I take the day off to rest and be in early tomorrow."

Nicholas perched himself on the edge of her desk. "So, does this mean that you are not in fact ill?"

"That means that I feel fine." She smiled.

"So, we can have a nice reunion without the uncle interrupting?"

"I believe so."

"Then I don't have to wait any longer to kiss you." He walked around the desk and pulled her from her chair to do just that. "I missed you so much. Angela, I love you. Let's go to your room." Nicholas kissed her again.

"I'll race you." She took off with Nicholas following close behind.

XXXXXX

"So, Charlie thinks he has enough data with the new leads to maybe help us out." Don explained to his team. "I want us to keep following up with these bars and clubs. You guys get anything today?"

"We got an eyeful of stuff today, Don." Colby grinned. "Although I don't know how much of that is related to the case."

"What my partner means is that we have several leads on women that frequent places like this. One of them, Mistress Madeline, owns a 'business' outside of Pasadena that caters to the lifestyle. She says all of her people are above board, but she knows a few ladies that tend to play outside of the rules. Madeline gave us a list of names to run down. There was also this bartender at a club called Zion. He told us about a lady named Angel. No one seems to know anything about her except that she plays hard. The bartender, Rick Gentry, says that this lady comes in a lot. He saw her last night. She came in alone, but left with some new guy. Gentry says he'd never seen this guy before last night. He's supposed to give me a call when she comes in again." David reported.

"Hey guys," Charlie entered the room and Don could tell by the look on his face that they were all about to be treated to a math lesson. "Based on the new information that we have, I've been working on a scatter plot in conjunction with a Least Squares Regression Line to pinpoint the movements of your serial killer. Based off of this information I can tell you that -"

"Sorry to interrupt Charlie, but we just received a call from LAPD. A gentleman by the name of George Cassadine called 911 to report finding a man locked in his basement. The guy was picked up last night in a bar by a woman. He says her name was Angel." Megan hurried to get the words out. "The guy was beaten pretty badly, but he's been able to identify the woman as Angela Cassadine, George's niece."

"Where is she now?" Don demanded.

"Uncle George says that he sent her home from work today. She wasn't home when he arrived, but there is luggage in her bedroom belonging to a boyfriend. Nicholas Castor. Nicholas used his credit card to pay for a room at the Hilton a few hours ago by phone and he paid for dinner downtown less than two hours ago."

"Keep someone on the house and get a team out to the hotel." Everyone was already up and moving, "Thanks for your help Charlie. I'll see you later." Don said as he rushed out of the door.

"I guess old fashioned investigation still works after all." Charlie chuckled to himself as the last of the agents fled the room. "That means I have time to help Larry with his equations now."

XXXXXX

"Angela, what's wrong?" Nicholas questioned as they neared the hotel.

"I'm miserable Nicholas. This life of business, it's not for me. Uncle George just can't see it." She said sadly. "I wish I could stand up to him."

"Let's go away together. I have some money and you have your inheritance, let's just travel for a while. We can see the world. Let Uncle George take care of the business himself. He did it for years without you."

"You don't know how tempting that would be. To feel like I was in control of my life again. I would kill to feel that way again." Angela clutched her purse tightly. "Nicholas, I want to be with you, but there's something you should know. I've done things."

"Whatever it is, I don't care. I love you Angela."

She looked into his intelligent brown eyes and saw the love reflected there, wishing she hadn't screwed up so badly. There was no sailing off into the sunset for her. "Nicholas, I love you. I really do."

They were both startled as their car was surrounded by sirens and flashing lights. A voice demanded that they stop the car. Nicholas did so in confusion.

"Don't worry Nicky. They're here for me. I hope that one day you can understand why I killed those men. Why I needed to control something in my life. Remember the good things about me Nicholas, please?" Angela requested.

Nicholas was shocked as the woman that he loved pulled the gun she had hidden in her purse out and took her own life. He sat in stunned silence until the doors were jerked open and he was pulled from the car.

XXXXXX

"So, you don't think he knew anything about what the girlfriend had been doing?" Don questioned Megan as they stood outside of the interrogation room where Nicholas Castor sat. The blood no longer tinged his face, but his white shirt had splotches of her dried blood all over. He looked as if he were still in shock.

"I think he's still stunned. The poor guy was totally in love with her." Megan took a sip of her coffee. "He had been in Iraq. Just got back this morning. Nicholas said he wanted to surprise Angela. He was planning on proposing tonight."

"Yeah, well, sometimes things don't go according to plan." Don stated and pulled his jacket on. "Let's cut him loose and call it a day. Good work Agent Reeves."

**Chapter Three**

"So, you're brother, he solved his case without your help this time?" Alan questioned his youngest as he set the table for dinner.

"Yeah. Don and his team, they do good work." Charlie grinned.

"So, you're not upset that you did all of that work for nothing.?"

"The algorithm can probably be used in future cases. So, I hardly think that all of that work was for nothing, father."

"Has Don started in on a new case already? I haven't heard from him in a few days."

"I think he's working on a new fraud case. I haven't seen him much either since last week." Charlie helped his father put the food on the table.

Alan grabbed for the edge of the table feeling very unsteady. He had begun to feel somewhat lightheaded while speaking with Charlie.

"Dad, Dad, what's wrong?" Charlie questioned as he too began to feel sick. He dropped the bowl full of salad just as he saw his father go down. His world began to look fuzzy and his vision faded to gray before he himself fell to the ground as he lost consciousness.

XXXXXX

To say that Don Eppes was angry was vastly underestimating the agent's current mood. Don surged with hatred for the person that had dared to attack his family in their own home. Alan was currently receiving oxygen from one of the paramedics on the scene. Charlie was nowhere to be found. The neighbors had seen nothing.

"Don, I have agents questioning the neighbors. So far, there aren't any witnesses." David informed his boss. Colby took a team over to the university. He's checking to see if anything unusual happened there today. Tell me what you need."

"I need to know where the hell my brother is." Don's frustration was showing.

"Agent, we're ready to transport your father now. Are you riding in with us?" The paramedic that had been treating his father inquired.

"David, you and Megan have the scene. I'm going to ride in with Dad. Let me know the minute you have anything." Don instructed.

XXXXXX

Don had been in the emergency room waiting room for just under an hour when his cell phone rang. "Eppes." He barked into the receiver.

"How does it feel agent Eppes? How does it feel to have someone that you love ripped away from you in one moment?"

"Who is this?"

"I am the man that is currently teaching you a lesson. Is your brother afraid of being in a small enclosed space for an extended period of time?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I"m talking about your brother being buried underground in a box. A coffin actually. How long do you think he'll last before he uses the gun that I left for him agent? Do you think he'll choose to kill himself or do you think he'll hold out for hope of rescue and die of oxygen deprivation? I think he will make the same choice that Angela made."

"Tell me where he is you son of a bitch!" Don yelled into the phone.

"Good-bye." The line went dead.

XXXXXX

Charlie climbed slowly toward consciousness. His head throbbed and his limbs felt heavy. After a minute, he thought he had opened his eyes, but it was so dark. The true panic set in when he tried to sit up and realized that there was no room for movement. The scream of terror broke from his lips before he even knew it was coming. That's when the attack hit full force. He could feel his heart racing, his body trembling and then he couldn't breath. It was actually a mercy when he passed out.

XXXXXX

"Don, how's your father?" Megan joined him in the waiting room.

"He's doing okay. They want to keep him overnight for observation. Thanks for coming to get me."

"No problem." She lead the way outside.

"We get anything on Castor yet?"

"No. He dropped out of sight right after the funeral. No hits on his credit cards and he closed his bank account out after withdrawing the balance which was just slightly north of sixteen grand." Megan stopped walking. "Don, I'm sorry. I didn't see Nicholas Castor as a threat. Charlie's been abducted because-"

"Wait. Wait. Hold on a minute Megan. There was no way any of us could know that Nicholas Castor would turn out to be as crazy as his girlfriend. Let's start by pulling all of the pictures from the traffic cams between Charlie's house and the major freeways. Maybe we'll get lucky."

XXXXXX

It hadn't taken Charlie long to explore his prison. His search turned up a flashlight, a bottle of water, and a gun. He knew the math. Based on the size of the box, he estimated that he had twelve hours before he died from lack of oxygen. The thing was, he didn't know how much time had passed since he had been placed into the box. He had faith in Don and his team, but the reality was that he could die in here. It was in that moment that Charlie decided that he couldn't deal with that reality and turned his reality inward. The numbers were there as always. He would just loose himself in the equations that ran through his mind until the end.

XXXXXX

Megan has been watching the slow mental breakdown of Don Eppes for the last ten hours. She knew how close he was to breaking down and she knew that it would be bad when it happened.

Don hadn't moved from his spot in front of the monitors for hours. He was determined to find the vehicle that Castor had used to transport Charlie to the spot where he was buried alive. Megan watched as Don absentmindedly sipped from his coffee cup and then glance at his watch. In retrospect, she would decide that Don's realization of how many hours had passed since Charlie's abduction was he breaking point.

Don stood up and thew the coffee cup across the room and the next object to meet with an untimely death was the monitor he had been communing with. He picked it up and threw it through the glass door of the conference room before proceeding to make his way up to the rooftop of the building.

When Megan caught up with him, Don was pacing the length of the roof. She didn't say anything until he seemed to run out of steam.

"Don." She said his name softly.

"Don't analyze me Reeves."

"Wouldn't dream of it Eppes." She shot back.

"I know what you're thinking. I can't do my job without Charlie's help. Well, you're right. Only this time he can't help. You realize that the reason he can't help is because he's somewhere out there buried in a box underground. I let some crazed lunatic kidnap him from his own home. He's probably dead already Megan. Because- Because if it were me in his place and Castor really did leave a gun like he said – I would have used it hours ago."

"Are you finished?" She asked calmly. When he didn't respond, she continued. "I don't think you're giving yourself or Charlie enough credit. I've never seen either of you take the easy way out of any situation. I think that you know how wrong you are about 'needing' Charlie to help you do your job and Nicholas Castor is the only one responsible for what has happened to your brother." Her cell phone chose that moment to ring. "Yeah? - Sit on him. We'll be there in ten." She spoke into her phone.

"What's going on?"

"David and Colby have our boy holed up at a Motel 6 off the freeway. Let's go."

"You giving the orders now Reeves?" He chuckled.

"Wouldn't dream of it Eppes." She smirked.

XXXXXX

"Castor is in there for sure?" Don demanded from David.

"Yeah. We've seen him moving around in the room." David confirmed.

"Let's go get the little punk." Don instructed.

They were inside the motel room inside of three minutes with Castor in custody. "Tell me where he is." Don wasn't about to let Castor stay silent.

"Why should I? You killed her. You need to suffer for that."

"Tell me where my brother is Castor." When he remained silent Don continued. "Listen, as much as you don't want to think about this, Angela killed three men and was on her way to killing another. She went out and picked them up from a bar and then took them back to her home, locked them in a cage and beat them to death. This woman that you are so intent on avenging – well, she was sick and needed help. We could have gotten that help for her, but she chose to take her own life instead. Don't do this Nicholas. Don't choose death for Charlie. Charlie is innocent in all of this. Please, Nicholas. Please tell me where my brother is."

Don could see the indecision in Castor's face. "He's – it's a construction site off of Chapel Creek. At the back of the new housing edition where they haven't begun construction yet."

"Thank you." Don took a breath and turned to David. "I want EMTs and and ambulance to meet us there."

XXXXXX

Megan cringed at the speed of the black SUV and she had to bite her tongue from commenting as Don sped down the highway with lights and sirens blaring. She hoped that they reached the site before Eppes crashed into something or someone.

Don was fixated on a single goal. There would be no stopping him from getting to his brother. He barley noticed the cars behind him racing to support them in their effort to reach Charlie. In what seemed like only moments, they were converging upon the spot where it was obvious that the dirt had been moved around recently. Shovels materialized from somewhere and they all began to dig.

"Don, we've hit something." Colby informed him. "Charlie! Charlie if you can hear us, we've almost got you. Just hang on a little longer."

"Get me something to pry the lid off." Don demanded as he cleared as much dirt as he could from the lid. Moments later, they were all looking at a very traumatized math professor. Charlie's eyes were closed Don thought he heard him mumbling numbers. It broke his heart to see his brother so withdrawn, so helpless. "Colby, help me get him out of here." Don requested and they had Charlie out of the box and gently laid him on the ground. Don wouldn't let go of his brother's hand as the medics moved in to assess their patient's condition. "You're gonna be okay buddy." Don whispered as he brushed his brother's hair from his face. "You're gonna be okay."

XXXXXX

Don was sitting in the living room of his family's home half watching the game and half watching his brother's sleeping form on the couch. Charlie had spent the night in the hospital being treated with fluids and his mental condition being assessed. Now he was home, safe. Don himself was very grateful. Charlie shifted in his sleep and then turned completely over and noticed Don watching him.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"Nothing. Just thinking."

"I've been doing that a lot too. I was thinking about Angela Cassadine last night. She must have felt so out of control of her life to do the things she did. It reminded me of this famous paradox. Zeno's Paradox of the motionless runner. Imagine a runner. His goal is to run 1000 meters. He has to travel half the distance and then half that remaining distance and so on and so on. Since the runner cannot perform infinitely many steps in a finite time, motion is impossible. I'm thinking that's how Angela felt. Like a motionless runner in her own life."

"Really? I'm thinking that she was just nuts." Don smiled.

"Don, are you okay?"

"What, me?" Don shook his head. "I'm not the one that Nicholas Castor chose to take his revenge on. I'm fine."

"I want you to know that I'm okay, Don. You don't have to worry about me. I'm not that fragile Donnie."

"You seemed broken for a minute there. When we pulled you out of that box. I was afraid that you'd gotten so lost in your head that maybe you wouldn't come back. I was scared that maybe you'd never be the same."

"You don't have to worry about that. I'm still the same."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, give me a couple of more days and I'll prove it."

"How?"

"I can still kick your ass at basketball."

"You can try buddy. You can try." Don laughed and he knew in that moment, that Charlie really would be okay.

The End

Thanks again for reading.


End file.
